Below are letters from readers sharing their
reactions to issues which have been raised in this column. The
date and name of the column are in bold (with hyperlink to the
commentary) and the readers comments follow. Send us your comments
on a particular column and we will consider publishing them.

For years I have been
screaming about taxes on single people. I have been
divorced for almost 17 years - I'm 47 years old - no
children and a solo. I'm all for "it takes a village", but
good Lord, how long do I have to keep up the village???? I
have always felt singles have been discriminated against.

Keep up the good work. I
will be looking for you the air and will a donation at that
time.

Thank you
for your column. You've said what the committee I
work with and myself have tried to say in so many ways
since Jan. 10, the day they passed the Resolution with
no public hearing or notice. We have tried to run
ads, get people to the City Council meetings, network,
appeal to our other political leaders, ask every
organization we can think of for help, in short, tried
everything we can think of to stop this. It's torn
this town apart. Opinions have hardened. Most of the
traditional LDS and other church goers think it's
fine. We're called troublemakers and worse. A lot of
the people who would speak up against the Mayor are
afraid of retaliation. Most of the business people
realize the controversy is so bad for tourism, but
won't speak up. It's really frightening. The Mayor
and Council have gone after several people who have
spoken up. The Salt Lake Tribune speaks of some of
them.

This
area voted for Bush twice with 80% or better. The
Mayor, running unopposed twice, has said he's proud
to live in a one party city, in a one party state, and
is also the Republican County Chair. We have appealed
to the State and Federal Officials, and the Governor
to no avail. There is no recall mechanism in the city
charter here. He's in for four years, hell or high
water. I am trying to sell and get out, fearing that
property values will plummet. I truly believe this
town will become a magnet for right wing radicals,
with violence following close behind.

A
woman from Wyoming came to the Council meeting where
10 minutes were allowed us to state our case, and
dismissed with prepared statements from the Council.
She said she'd seen the attitudes there, like here,
that killed Matthew Shepard. She said Wyoming will
always be known as the state that killed him. She was
never even allowed to speak.

I've
never seen anything like this in my life. It appears,
in places like this, people really want to return to
Puritan America, or perhaps Taliban Afganistan. Underneath
this, they are stirring up a virulent hatred of gays.
Like Nazi Germany, they seem to be looking for a
target of hate, and here they are succeeding.
Unfortunately, most townspeople are oblivious. May
God help us.

Thank
you again for shining some light on this. I hope you
don't mind, I'm going to email your column to our
local weekly paper, The Southern Utah News. Dixie
Brunner, the Editor has stood up against this
resolution and been the target of the Mayor because of
it. I hope she can reprint it there with your
permission. If you wish to contact the paper, the
email is
sunews@kanab.net. Thank you again very much.

Thomas F. Coleman wrote to the company which conducted
the survey mentioned in this Column and asked if anyone
there could explain why unmarried workers were more
dissatisfied with their employment situation than
married workers. That's what their survey showed. Here is what the company wrote
back.

Thank
you for the inquiry and the interest in our survey. The
differences on this front are notable, and while it’s
challenging to present a categorical answer to why the
large gaps exist, several possibilities occur. It may
be that married workers feel they can share the burden
of outside errands and logistics, giving them more time
to balance their day. You’ll also notice that
individuals with larger incomes tend to have higher
satisfaction with their work-life balance. It is
possible that dual incomes give married workers more
resources to accommodate busy lifestyles. Anecdotally,
we often hear that unmarried workers feel compelled to
‘pick up the slack’ from married workers, particularly
those with children. Our survey did not specifically
address this issue, but our position is that employers
should provide adequate work-life balance for all
employees, regardless of marital status – or any other
determination.

It was a pleasure to read your
article, Labor Day: striving for equality when the
holiday is over.

I have worked for a company
for a little of a year and a half as a Relocation
Coordinator for a Real Estate company. Our director is a
married woman with children and has created a flexible
environment catering to employees balancing the
responsibility of having children and a full-time work
schedule. This creates a helpful environment for those in
my department with children, but as the only staff member
of 5 without children, I feel discriminated against when
it comes to vacation time. My company allows us two weeks
paid vacation each year.

Over the Christmas Holiday in
2004, I was left to be the only one present in our
department on Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve. My
co-workers and director expressed that it was ok for me to
be there because I did not have a family consisting of
children to be with during the holidays. As the new
holiday season approaches my coworkers have expressed that
this year they need to be at home with their children once
again.

Recently, I asked my director
if I can take one week vacation time in February of 2006
due to moving into a new home. Her response was that my
husband and I should not have that many boxes to
move because we do not have children. She said, "you don't
need to pack all the many things a child needs such as
books, toys, clothes". My director's conclusion what
that I should really only need 2-3 days to move and I
should unpack gradually.

I feel that I have been
discriminated against because my husband and I have chosen
not to have children at this point in our lives. I
understand there are not many laws protecting workers from
this type of discrimination, but is there any course of
action I can take in reference to getting my vacation
time?

Thomas F. Coleman, Executive Director of Unmarried America, is an
attorney with 33 years of experience in singles' rights, family
diversity, domestic partner benefits, and marital status discrimination.
Each week he adds a new commentary to Column One: Eye on Unmarried
America. E-mail:
coleman@unmarriedamerica.org. Unmarried America is a nonprofit
information service for unmarried employees, consumers, taxpayers, and
voters.